Fuck. If she wants me to eat the candy, I’ll eat the candy. Consequences be damned. After all, it’s small. How bad could it be?
I grab the gumdrop and shove it into my mouth. Surprisingly, it tastes good. Sort of like a mixture of grape and pomegranate. Once I swallow it, I suffer a distinctive medicinal aftertaste. Herbal-berry-cough-drop flavored.
“Finally,” Nevina says. “I thought you’d never oblige me.”
I do a double take, realizing I can understand her perfectly now, even though I’m sure she’s still speaking her native language.
“You fed me a translation spell?” My brows lift. In hindsight, I remember that elves can do magic, but I hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end.
“Well, we couldn’t have you bumbling about the castle without any way to communicate.” She gives a haughty laugh, as if my bumbling would be both embarrassing and inconvenient. “It’s simple enough magic. Now we can get to know each other properly.”
Great. Just what I wanted, to get to know the dark elf queen on my first day in the kingdom with no knowledge or understanding of Stygarde society or standards of etiquette. It feels like I’m stepping into a minefield, but fine. I’m a big girl. I can handle this. I clear my throat, which feels slick like I’ve swallowed a shot of olive oil. “Uhhh, thank you. How long does the spell last?”
“Forever,” she says as if that should be obvious, but then her brow sinks. “Although I don’t know anything about your species specifically. Damien said you were a vamp-eye-ehr.” She pronounces the word in three distinct syllables.
“A vampire, yes,” I say, subtly correcting her pronunciation. “Not unlike a shade.”
She purses her lips. “I’m just happy to have another woman staying in the castle. You can’t imagine how lonely it’s been with only Brahm for regular companionship.”
That comment throws me. Surely she must have made some friends here by now. Even if she was isolated in the castle for some reason, she’s surrounded by servants. I’ve personally seen two different women working in the castle whom she could befriend. Perhaps the social norms here don’t allow royalty to hobnob with the help, but surely there are others in the ruling class she could spend time with? Then again, maybe she’s simply being self-deprecating to put me at ease.
I give her the benefit of the doubt and smile warmly at her. “I could use a friend. Everything in this world is new to me.”
“Good, because I brought you something else.” She gestures toward her servant, who remains as silent as a shadow. “I couldn’t help but notice tonight that your clothing was in disrepair. I brought you some dresses of mine to tide you over until we can fit you in with the royal tailor.”
So that’s why she’d been staring at me earlier. “May I?” I ask the servant. The girl looks to be sixteen, but then, I can’t gauge the age of shades like I can humans.
“Yes, ma’am,” she says softly.
“Thank you.” I take the pile of fabric from her and spread each item out on the bed so I can see it fully. There’s a silky nightgown and a few dresses with full, ankle-length skirts like Nevina is wearing. But the colors are all wrong for me. Pale pastels. They’ll clash with my fiery red hair and make me look terribly washed out. They’re also built for a much narrower, flatter physique. My time in Night Haven changed my body composition to be far more muscular and curvier than before. Nevina is positively waifish. I’ll be lucky to wedge myself into one of these using magic and kitchen grease.
“Nevina, your kindness is much appreciated,” I say and mean it. I will need something to wear, and after all, it’s not her fault she’s thinner and has a different skin tone than I do. “It’s incredibly generous of you to lend me these. I’ll take good care of them.”
She waves a hand dismissively. “Consider them yours. They’re from last season. Nothing the queen can be seen in again.” She sighs.
Without knowing her well, I can’t figure out if the idea of disposing of them is annoying to her or if she’s simply being matter-of-fact. “Thank you anyway. I do appreciate it.” I wait, but she makes no move to leave the room. After a short eternity passes in awkward silence, I say, “If you’ll excuse me, I should probably get some rest. It’s been an exhausting journey.”
“How did you do it?” she asks, her hands landing on her hips. “Damien said you traveled between worlds. No shade is capable of that. You must have used magic.”
I take stock of my choices. Lying to her seems like a perfect way to ruin my chances of staying in her good graces, but I don’t know her well enough to trust her with my secrets. I settle on a simple truth. “Yes, it was me. I created the spell that brought us here.”
“Then you vamp-eye-ehrs have magic like elves?” She tucks her chin as if she finds the idea unsettling.
“Not usually. On my planet, there were some things I could do, but none of them has worked for me since we arrived on Tenebris. I think there’s something different about this world. I can’t perform even the simplest of spells here.”
Her lashes flutter. Is that relief I see on her face?
“How odd.” She studies me, tapping her chin.
I shrug. “But not altogether surprising, is it? This is an entirely different world with a different place in the universe, different energy, different rules.”
“True.” She clasps her hands in front of her hips and looks around the room. “Damien has gone?”
“He went to pay his respects to his family in the cemetery. Something about an offering to Thanesia.”
She smooths the front of her dress. “It’s a shade tradition. Of course, having just been made aware of their passing, he’d want to observe the custom.”
In silence, I wait, shifting awkwardly while she peruses the space, her fingers dragging over the back of a chair. I don’t want to directly ask her to leave, but maybe I’m supposed to? Is there some strange shade custom where the queen can’t show herself out? I’m about to bring up how exhausted I am again in hopes that she’ll take the hint, when she turns to her servant and says, “Roslyn, please return to my chambers and wait for me there.”
